For me… more like 10+ years, before that I mostly used mice because the touchpad was a huge pain in the ass which I detested.
In any case, this is a good idea for a feature.
Before the 10+ years, I didn’t have a trackpoint nor did I use lenovo thinkpads much.
Such a pity too… lol.
It’s looking pretty promising over in Thinkpad keyboard mod (super early stages)! with no blockers identified so far, but of course it’s impossible to be certain until laptops ship. Most likely it’s going to be a bit of a DIY project, at least initially.
If somebody, whether it be framework or a third party or a hobbyist, makes it possible to put a 7 row thinkpad keyboard on a framework laptop (bonus points for spill resistance), I would tell them to shut up and take my money.
Do I think Framework should sink their company trying to make this happen? No.
Do I hate Framework, a small startup, for not accommodating my own challenging niche? No.
All I’m saying is that the trackpoint is pretty much the ONLY reason I’m still using a thinkpad instead of a framework, and given that the type of person who uses a thinkpad probably tends to be the type of person who aligns with framework’s goal for a modular and repairable laptop, I’m probably not the only one.
Dito.
I also do a tonne of coding, and having to move my hand to the mouse and back every time I need to move the cursor is agony compared to a trackpoint.
Please, reverse the way you look at this issue. This is not about how Trackpoint is popular, this is about how touchpad is unpopular. Consider: how many people are actually using touchpad at work? Or do they just use a mouse?
Touchpad is fundamentally flawed:
Framework is amazing, I was even considering to start using a mouse, but since I started to work away from my desk, this is not an option anymore.
Ever since we took Human Computer Interaction (HCI) course in the late 90s which illustrated how well known the trackpoint is for being more efficient, we’ve been trackpoint believers. The touchpad however is better for folks who are not power users (the majority) due to being easier to adopt. Anyway, we would love to see a trackpoint option for Framework 16. Many of our professional friends have expressed that they have not purchased a Framework for specifically this reason. Hopefully the trackpoint keyboard mod goes ahead.
in your experience maybe 
I just selected your text to quote it without issue.
I can easily move and click at the same time e.g. click drag.
I used to use the palm rejection, which was fine, but now find it just as comfortable to rest my outside plams either side of the touch pad while typing, so tunred it off.
At the end of the day, the community might make a replacement top shell and keyboard, but FW’s whole thing is you can swap out the guts and keep the I/O, and adding multiple keyboard SKU, in N different layouts would be a massive burdan on them so I can’t see it happening.
This answer very much resembles “You’re holding it wrong”.
Le^s settle that there are a certain number of people who prefer one over the other,
and that for people who would like to use a trackpoint a framework nb without one is currently not an option.
In the mean time, I place my hopes on the trackpoint keyboard mod, too.
Best regards, MT
That we can agree on
Been using Thinkpads for 20+ years and the trackpoint is pretty much engrained in muscle memory. Even bought mechanical keyboards with the trackpoint. I was going to wait until there was a trackpoint, but I’m glad I didn’t.
In my 2.7 years experience with Framework, the touchpad:
It does take a bit of getting used to though.
As of late March I am a proud owner of a framework 16 laptop. It has taken the place of my primary workstation and I plan to gradually replace the laptops of friends and family with this over the upcoming years.
That said, a touchpad (even one as good as what the fw16 has) will never quite cut it for my workflow. I eagerly await, cash in hand, for the day that I can purchase a keyboard and palmrest input module for this magnificent laptop that contains a trackpoint and 3 physical buttons to make it perfect.
Until then, I will continue to use an external keyboard with a trackpoint.
Some clarifications to my points:
Same here and
/subscribe
been using trackpoints since 1997, nothing comes close to it, trackpads are a joke in comparison, especially if you’re hoping to hold mouse button 2 or 3 and do a very precise mouse drag at the same time, but honestly there are so many other things wrong with trackpads.
Lenovo has given up on making nice thinkpads that don’t weigh a ton and actually power from USB-PD like the rest of the world, so after over 25 years of using thinkpads, I’m ready to jump ship, but I must have trackpoint.
If not, I have this Dell XPS 9730 (thank you lovely board for telling me I’m a spammer and preventing me from posting links)
It’s actually reasonably good (except for the keyboard missing crucial keys), but the lack of trackpoint makes it so painful to use that I go back to my big and heavy and power supply hating Thinkpad P17gen2 as soon as I can. The keyboard and trackpoint are just that good.
T480s does both of those just fine XD.
That is correct, on the small laptops, they support it. On the real ones, they don’t bother, when there is no excuse, they are just being lazy. You can absolutely take all the power available from the connected power source, and if you need extra, you get it from the battery. Dell does this fine on all their laptops and I’m sure they’re not the same.
Thinkpad P70 used to at least power the laptop but not charge the battery when you put a 90W power supply, P73 and P17 dropped that. P70 also would slow charge the battery when the laptop was shut down and the power supply was 90W, P73 and P17 dropped that.
Dell XPS will do whatever it can, including charging the battery slowly if some power is still available.
One could argue anything above 14" isn’t a real laptop but I guess everyone got different tastes XD.
But yeah usb pd implementations on big laptops definitely leave a lot to be desired, my previous work laptop (intel 8th gen zbook) refused to draw power from pd while on and my current one (intel 11th gen latitude) only begrudgingly kinda does with a lot of wining. I do hope 48v pd catches on for that segment so all those proprietary workarounds can go die in a fire.
Since you already are producing in Taipei, Taiwan.
It might be a good idea to look at TEX Electronics and their keyboards.
They might be interested in making a keyboard-kit as third party or cooperating if that would be interesting.
As of now they have been making mechanical keyboards with trackpoints for years.
I have been using the Shura with absolute satisfaction for some time now.
I’m just getting used to my new framework 16. I immediately want three things:
Created an account just to post this.
I think Framework is doing really good work on the interative innovation front. The AMD processors and all for the 13 inch model. Brilliant. 2800x1920 screen, battery, etc.
I have been a Thinkpad user for 15+ years now and though I’m really tempted by the FW13, having to stick the Thinkpad X1 for now.
Incorporating the trackpoint will require some deft engineering but hope that is actually possible. Fingers crossed.
When will framework sell a trackpoint keyboard on their website though?